All Quiet on the Western Front

into battle by julian grenfell

what does this poem and all quiet on the western front have in common.

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I know All Quiet on the Western Front really well. I just read the poem that you mentioned. There are so many similarities that the poem could have been included in the book. The character of Paul often juxtaposes nature against the very un-natural horrors of war. Grenfell notes that, "The fighting man shall from the sun Take warmth, and life from the glowing earth...." Paul relies on nature to nurture him through the battles. Paul even falls into poetic apostrophe, calling the earth his "mother" and his "brother". Paul also suggests that ma's battles are transient compared to the majesty of nature. Similarly Grenfell writes,

"And life is colour and warmth and light,

And a striving evermore for these;

And he is dead who will not fight; "

There is a disconnect between the wonders of nature and the horrors man wages on himself we see this in the novel and in the poem, yet somehow nature remains man's friend,

The woodland trees that stand together,

They stand to him each one a friend;

There is more but I think I'll stop here. I found the poem in the source link below.

Source(s)

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/grenfel.htm